Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz, seen here in a file photo, is calling for the resignation of the Democratic Party chairwoman.NJ.com file photo

PERTH AMBOY – Mayor Wilda Diaz is calling for the resignation of the city’s Democratic Party leader, saying local candidates are not taken seriously during elections for office in the county and state.

Leslie Dominguez-Rodriguez, whose seat as city chairwoman comes up for election after the June primary, says she isn’t stepping down, according to mycentraljersey.com.

“I was elected by my committee,” the website quoted Dominguez-Rodriguez, who added she is trying to find a Perth Amboy candidate to run for the Middlesex County Board of Freeholders.

The mayor, who was re-elected last November, is part of a coalition of four Democrats to remove Dominguez-Rodriguez. Together, the four Democrats garnered about 70 percent of the votes cast in the nonpartisan mayoral election, according to the report.

“The leader of the Democratic party needs to be a standard-bearer for the core values that represent the Democratic party,” Diaz said, according to the report. “The party cannot and should not be led by an individual bent on selfish needs, as opposed to the needs of the party.”

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Dominguez-Rodriguez criticized Diaz for not bringing any candidates for state or county office to the attention of the Democratic committee.

Incumbent Freeholder Blanquita Valenti of New Brunswick, Woodbridge Council President Charles Kenny, Piscataway Council President Kenneth Armwood and North Brunswick Councilwoman Cathy Nicola have announced their intentions to run for freeholder. The county Democratic organization will conduct a convention March 20 to announce which three candidates will be endorsed in the June primary.

According to the report, Diaz criticized Dominguez-Rodriguez for supporting mayoral candidate Billy Delgado during the campaign because he previously ran as a Republican state Assembly candidate.